IT Phrases Guide
English Phrases for Performance Review Self-Assessment — IT Professional's Guide
English phrases for writing and delivering professional self-assessments — articulating impact, communicating growth, and discussing goals.
7 phrases across 2 situations · 3 phrases to avoid · 5 exercises · 10 FAQ items
Articulating Impact
- This year I [delivered / led / contributed to] [project], which resulted in [measurable outcome].Impact statement with a measurable result
"This year I led the migration to the new authentication service, which reduced login latency by 40% and eliminated a class of session-related bugs."
- A key contribution was [X] — it enabled the team to [business outcome].Connecting your work to team or business value
"A key contribution was the caching layer I built for the product catalogue — it enabled the team to reduce infrastructure costs by 30%."
- Beyond my core deliverables, I [mentored / documented / improved] [X].Highlighting non-code contributions
"Beyond my core deliverables, I onboarded two new engineers and documented the deployment process — reducing onboarding time from 2 weeks to 3 days."
- I operated at a [level] standard in [area], as evidenced by [example].Levelling your performance claim with evidence
"I operated at a Senior level in system design, as evidenced by my leading the architecture review for the new payments module."
Communicating Growth and Goals
- An area I've grown in this year is [skill/area] — I can see this in [evidence].Naming growth with evidence
"An area I've grown in is communicating technical decisions to stakeholders — I led 4 architecture reviews and received consistent positive feedback."
- One area I want to develop further is [skill] — my plan is [concrete steps].Honest development goal with a plan
"One area I want to develop is my knowledge of distributed systems — my plan is to lead our next service decomposition project and complete the MIT distributed systems course."
- My goal for next year is to [specific ambition aligned with team/company direction].Forward-looking goal that aligns with the organisation
"My goal for next year is to grow into a staff engineer role by leading a cross-team technical initiative and mentoring 1–2 mid-level engineers."
Phrases to Avoid
These common phrasings undermine your professionalism. Here are better alternatives.
"Working hard" is effort, not impact. Reviewers and managers respond to outcomes and evidence.
"A lot of things" is vague and undersells your work. Prioritise and quantify your top contributions.
Claiming no weaknesses is unconvincing and closes off the development conversation. Honest, planned self-improvement shows maturity.
Practice Exercises
Choose the most professional or correct phrase for each scenario.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a "performance review" and how often do they happen?
A performance review is a formal assessment of an employee's contributions, growth, and goals — typically annual or bi-annual. Many tech companies add mid-year check-ins.
What does "levelling" mean in a performance review?
Levelling is assessing whether you're performing at, above, or below the expectations for your current level (e.g. Junior, Mid, Senior, Staff). Consistent above-level performance is the basis for promotion.
What is a "360 review"?
A 360 review collects feedback from peers, direct reports, and manager — giving a multi-directional view of performance, not just the manager's perspective.
What does "impact" mean in a tech performance review?
Impact means the measurable effect of your work on the product, team, or business — shipping features, improving reliability, reducing costs, enabling others. It's prioritised over effort or hours worked.
What is an "OKR"?
OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. An Objective is a qualitative goal ("improve checkout reliability"); Key Results are measurable milestones ("reduce checkout error rate from 2% to 0.5%").
How do you quantify impact when your work isn't directly measurable?
Use proxy metrics: time saved ("reduced onboarding from 2 weeks to 3 days"), frequency ("reviewed 40+ PRs per quarter"), or scope ("mentored 3 engineers who all received strong reviews").
What is "scope" in a performance review context?
Scope refers to the reach of your work — whether you operate at the individual, team, cross-team, or company level. Expanding scope is usually a requirement for promotion to senior and staff levels.
What does "operating at the next level" mean?
It means demonstrating the skills, impact, and scope expected of the level above your current one — typically required consistently for 1–2 review cycles before a promotion is granted.
What is a "growth area" vs a "weakness"?
A "growth area" is a deliberate, forward-looking framing of a skill you're developing — it includes a plan. A "weakness" is just a deficiency. In performance reviews, framing matters: growth areas show maturity.
What is a "brag document"?
A brag document is a personal running log of your accomplishments throughout the year — projects shipped, bugs fixed, mentoring done, kudos received. It's invaluable source material for writing your self-assessment.